Adding Memos to Invoices in Garde

The Memos on Invoices feature allows you to add short notes—called memos —to invoices during Invoice Approval. These memos are exported to your accounting system, giving your accounting team better visibility into what was purchased and why. This feature supports:

• A Header Memo for the overall invoice
• Line Memos for individual products on the invoice

And requires:

• Enabling Invoice Approval in Garde
• A compatible accounting system

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In this Article

• How to Add Memos
• Finalizing Memos
• Supported Accounting Platforms
  • Where Memos Appear in the Accounting System
  • How Memo Grouping Affects Your Export
• Prepopulated Header Memos
• Frequently Asked Questions

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Things to Know

Invoice Approval is required to add memos to invoices. Editable until approved: If you’ve already approved an invoice, you’ll need to send it back through Invoice Approval to edit the memos. Permissions: Anyone with access to Invoice Approval can add memos. Feature availability: This feature is only available for some accounting systems. If you don’t see the memo fields, check whether your accounting integration is supported and whether Invoice Approval is enabled. (See further down in this article for supported accounting systems.)

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How to Add Memos

You can add memos in the Invoice Approval screen.

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Add a Header Memo

This memo applies to the full invoice.

1. Open an invoice in Invoice Approval.
2. Locate the Header Memo field at the top. Enter up to 200 characters.

Example: “Includes travel expenses for January site visit.”

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Add Line Memos

This memo applies to the specific Line Item (product). Each line can have one memo.

1. Click the three dots next to any Line Item and select Edit item / add memo.
2. Scroll to the Line Item Memo field in the side panel.
3. Enter up to 100 characters for that specific item and Save.
4. Use the arrows to navigate to other Line Items.

Example: “Repairs needed for the ice machine”

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Finalizing Memos

Once the invoice is approved, the memos become read-only and visible in the Orders page for reference. In order to edit them again, you must send the invoice back through Invoice Approval.

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Supported Accounting Systems

If your accounting system supports memo fields, the memos you enter in Garde will export along with the invoice. Accounting System | Location of
Header Memo | Location of
Line Memos | Notes
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QuickBooks Online | ✅ Memo field | ✅ Description column | Bills, Expenses, Vendor Credits, and Journals QuickBooks Desktop | ✅ Memo field | ✅ Memo column | Bills, Vendor Credits, Expenses (Credit Card Purchase), Journals If your accounting system is not on this list, memo fields will not appear in Invoice Approval.

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Example of Memos on an Expense in QuickBooks

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How Memo Grouping Affects Your Export

When an invoice is exported to your accounting system, how your line items are grouped may change depending on whether or not you’ve added Line Memos. By default, products that share the same category (e.g., “Produce”) and GL account are grouped together into a single line item in your accounting system. However, if you add different line memos to those products, they will be separated in the export to preserve the memo detail.

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Example:

How the Line Items are broken up in Garde with their memos The resulting invoice would be grouped like this in the accounting system:

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Prepopulated Header Memos

In some instances, the header memo may be prepopulated with text in Invoice Approval. Prepopulated memos can always be edited or removed.

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QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop

• “Send class as the invoice memo ” option: If enabled on the Setup > Integrations > Edit Configuration screen, your selected class will auto-populate into the Header Memo.

• Credit Card Expenses: For invoices paid by credit card, the Header Memo will auto-fill as: “Payment for Vendor <Vendor Name> for Invoice <Invoice Number>”

• Journal Exports : If an invoice is exported as a Journal and no Header Memo is provided, it will default to: “Vendor: <Vendor Name>” at the Line Level, not the Header level. (For both QBO and QBD)

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Who can add invoice memos?

Anyone with access to the Invoice Approval screen can add header and line-level memos.

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Do I have to use Invoice Approval to use memos?

Yes. Memos are only available for invoices reviewed and approved through Invoice Approval.

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Which accounting systems support exporting memos?

• QuickBooks Online (QBO)
• QuickBooks Desktop (QBD)

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Why can’t I see the memo fields in Invoice Approval?

Make sure you have one of the above supported accounting systems connected under Setup > Integrations. These fields will not appear for unsupported accounting systems.

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Where do memos show up in my accounting system?

• Header Memos appear in the top memo or description fields.
• Line Memos appear as line-level descriptions in supported platforms like QBO and QBD.

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Can I change a memo after the invoice has been approved (before exporting)?

No. In order to change a memo you would have to send the invoice back through invoice approval. You can see the read-only memos on the Orders page after the invoice has been approved.

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Can memos be auto-filled based on products or vendors?

Not yet, but this is something we’ve heard as a request. Today, all memo entry is manual (except the pre-populated logic for certain QuickBooks Online scenarios).

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Why don’t I see my memos on my P &L report in QuickBooks Online?

In QBO, the only memos that appear on the P&L report are the line-level (Line Item) memos (the Description column on a Bill in QBO). Header memos will not appear on the P&L report.